Blood of Life, Blood of Love
by RoseFyre
Summary: With Myrtle's help, Luna discovers a few things about herself.


Myrtle flew over the door to her stall the moment she heard the door open, to come face to face with a short, skinny girl with scraggly blond hair and a Ravenclaw tie.

"Oh, hello," said the girl. "You must be Moaning Myrtle. I'm Luna Lovegood." She closed the door behind her and walked into the stall next to Myrtle's. "It's very nice to meet you," she called.

Myrtle blinked, owl-eyed behind her glasses. This wasn't at all the _normal_ reaction. She gathered herself for a moment, then floated over to look down at the girl. "And you've heard of me and you're not afraid or upset or in a hurry to leave?"

"Should I be?" Luna asked, completely unconcerned that Myrtle was watching her while her knickers were down. "Ginny Weasley said you seemed nice enough when she met you last year."

Ginny Weasley…she'd been there at the end of the year, with – "Did Harry Potter mention me?" Myrtle asked, morbidly curious, though of course _she_ wouldn't call it that.

"Well, I've not spoken to him – I don't think he even knows who I am. We're in different years and houses, and I don't know him from before like I know the Weasleys, and…well, people call me Loony sometimes. I don't think he'd want to know a Loony." Her voice was oddly not sad, as though people not wanting to know her was only to be expected.

Myrtle was used to loneliness too, but not resigned as this girl was. Thus, she decided to ignore that statement.

"Oh. They were here together, you know. Along with his friend, the redhead, and that handsome professor."

"Were they? Ginny won't talk about it, and I don't know the others well enough to ask. I don't think it was very pleasant for her, though, because she only mentioned you, and then wouldn't say anything more."

Myrtle floated up a bit, searching for a way out of this conversation. She knew more than Luna did – Professor Dumbledore had come and told her what happened, and that it was a secret, and she did like Professor Dumbledore. She'd quite liked him when she was…a student, too, even though he'd only been her Transfiguration Professor, not her Head of House or Headmaster. "What're you doing down here this late, anyway? It's almost curfew, and Ravenclaw Tower's on the other side of the castle, and all the way up on the top floor." Not that Myrtle had been a Ravenclaw, either, but the Grey Lady could be quite interesting, when she didn't talk in five-syllable words about far too complicated branches of Arithmancy.

"Well, I think I've started menstruating." Myrtle blinked at the matter-of-fact tone, which seemed oddly out of place coming from Luna. "I wanted to be somewhere private, because the girls in my dorm haven't yet – they talk about it late at night sometimes – so they'd just be jealous. And it would be quite useless to write to Daddy, and Mother's dead."

Myrtle floated down again. "You should go to Madam Pomfrey. She's got potions for the pain, and the…er…_things_ you'll need to catch the blood." Luna started to shake her head as she stood, flushed the toilet, and pulled up her knickers. "She'll also keep quiet. I went to her, when it happened to me, and she didn't tell anyone, not even when Olive Hornby kept asking why I'd been there."

Luna tilted her head, considering, then left the stall, washed her hands, and nodded to Myrtle. "Thank you for the advice. I'll go to her in the morning."

Then she was gone, and Myrtle was left to wonder why she already missed the extremely odd girl.

**oOo**

"Hello, Myrtle. It's just me."

Myrtle flew over the door to her stall anyway, even though she thought she recognized the voice. She was proven right when she saw Luna, carrying a bag full of books and a wand tucked behind her ear.

"You haven't come back in ages," she whined.

"Well, I was busy," Luna said. "Father's had me researching the Meandering Moroses. They're quite interesting, but it's taken up a lot of my time. And there's the Tournament."

"Yes," Myrtle answered, her mood changing to smug in an instant. "I helped Harry Potter figure out the clue for the second task. And I helped him find his friend, the redhead. They were tied to a rock at the bottom of the lake."

"Well, I'm glad they weren't taken away by the Glowing Grunisables. They haunt lakes, you know," Luna said as she sat down with her back against the door and her bag on the floor next to her.

Myrtle blinked. Then she decided to ignore Luna's rather nonsensical comments. She floated down to look at Luna's books. "What are you doing?"

"Researching what can be done with menstrual blood."

"What?"

"Well, I was at the Hospital Wing to pick up supplies – you know how Madam Pomfrey has that special corner? – and the Head Girl came in, and took some of the cup things. I'd seen them before, but I wasn't sure what they were for, because Madam Pomfrey only told me about the pads and the tampons, so I asked. She said they were for catching the blood to use in spells and potions."

Myrtle frowned. "I don't remember those."

"I don't think most people notice them. I only did because the Head Girl took some. So I got the books out of the library, but the boys from my year were there, and the girls were in the dorm, and I didn't want to be in either place." As she had the year before, she sounded as though avoiding her dormmates was only to be expected. "Also, I thought you might be able to help."

Myrtle shook her head. "Well, I've never heard of those things, or any other uses. I _was_ only fourteen when I…_died_. Have you got a picture?"

Luna opened the first book to a page that showed something that looked like a cup, but was transfiguring into an oddly shaped pad. Myrtle hung upside down to see more easily. "See, it transfigures into a sort of pad, and when you're done using it, you take it off and transfigure it back, and the blood collects in the cup."

"Any ideas what you can do with it yet?"

Luna shook her head. "No. Though I found menstrual blood listed in the indexes of potions books and ritual magic books, so it must be possible to use it for both of those."

"Ah." Myrtle nodded – an odd feat, when upside down. Quite possible for a ghost, though. "What's this one about?"

"Just basic facts about menstruation. I know most of it – I read parts last year, when I first got my period – but not the advanced pieces. I also took it out for Ginny Weasley, when she wasn't comfortable getting it herself. She's been telling me about the Tournament – she heard all about the second task from her brother, and listened when he and Harry Potter were talking about it."

"Did Harry Potter mention me? I did help him."

"I don't think so. He talked about something called 'gillyweed,' according to Ginny."

Myrtle pouted.

"Here," Luna said, holding up the book. "Help me see if I've missed anything?" Reluctantly, still pouting, Myrtle floated into a better position to follow along with Luna's reading.

**oOo**

"Myrtle, look at this!"

Myrtle had been sulking in her stall, after Peeves mocked her earlier in the evening, when she heard the door open and the shout. She quickly floated out of her stall, to find Luna holding a book up.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice still a bit whiny.

"I think it's the spell that Lily Potter must have used to protect Harry."

"Oh?" Myrtle perked up a bit at one of her favorite topics.

"Yes, he said that her sacrifice saved him, rather than anything he did himself, when Anthony Goldstein asked him about his scar. And you remember how we started researching menstruation and magic last year? I found a spell that actually seems like it might work for such a thing."

Myrtle blinked. "A spell like that exists?"

"Yes, though it's blood magic, and you know how the Ministry looks at that. Also, it requires quite a lot of magical power, and the second part can only be done once, though the first is repeatable. And I found it in the Restricted Section, of course."

"How'd you get in there? We never managed when I was a student." Myrtle was wistful, wishing she'd managed to see more of those books, back when she could still touch them.

"I asked Professor Trelawney for a pass. She's quite nice, actually, though rather obsessed with death. Ginny doesn't like her much – she says that she always hears bad things about her from her brother and Harry. But I think she likes me because I've accepted my death. So when I asked her for a pass for a book about blood omens, she was quite willing to give me one."

"And you found this?"

"Yes." Luna opened the book to the right page to show it to Myrtle.

That was when Myrtle noticed the nightgown Luna was wearing. Long, white, much like the ones she'd worn as a girl, nightgowns that were no longer in fashion. Unaccountably, she blushed, then forced herself to focus on the book.

They studied for a bit, once again sitting on the floor, until Myrtle felt she understood the spell. "Are you going to cast it?" she asked hesitantly.

"I think so."

"For who?"

"Harry, of course. He needs the protection. And if anyone else needs it later, I can always cast it again, for someone else."

"What about the second part?"

"Well, I don't think I'm ready to cast that part yet. That'll wait a bit. Perhaps another time. Or perhaps for another person."

"Do you think Harry Potter's mother did?"

"Probably. It can be connected to a womb, according to the notes in the margins. The handwriting's a bit hard to read, but I think that's what it says."

Myrtle peered at the book. "Possibly."

"I'll have to wait until tomorrow to cast it, though I've been collecting the blood."

"Yes, the book says it's best to wait until you're completely finished."

"Will you meet me here at midnight tomorrow to help me with the spell?"

"What can I do?" Myrtle asked morosely. "I'm not able to hold the book, or the wand, or anything."

"You can make sure I'm not messing up."

"I guess." Myrtle was a bit cheered by the fact that she _could_ do something, even if it wasn't much. "But aren't you supposed to be in bed at midnight? And isn't it midnight now? How'd you get down here while wearing a bright white nightgown?"

"The swamp agreed to distract Filch."

Myrtle blinked at the odd statement. "Of course. Whatever you say." She shook her head. "I'll meet you here tomorrow."

"Thank you, Myrtle, you're a dear." And then Luna was gone with her book, and Myrtle was left alone to wonder whether insanity was catching.

**oOo**

Myrtle was moping in the middle of the night, looking in the mirror and poking at her face, when the door opened quietly behind her. She saw Luna enter, seeming slightly downcast.

"Did you hear?" Luna asked, in a voice that was obviously trying to sound cheery. "Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley are dating."

"I'd heard," Myrtle whined. "Boys are so flaky."

"Girls, too," Luna said, sitting down with her back to the door and holding her knees to her chest. Her nightgown bunched up a bit, and she smoothed it down with shaking fingers.

That made Myrtle turn around. "Girls?" She tilted her head. "I hadn't realized."

"Most people haven't. The girls in my dorm wouldn't be so nice if I told them. Not that they're very nice now."

Myrtle floated over to sit next to her friend. "I had a crush on Harry, you know."

Luna nodded. "Yes. Ginny told me about that, from when she met you, first year." She sighed. "She's dated other people before, I shouldn't be quite this upset, but…"

"But this is probably going to last?"

"Yes."

"It's odd, being a ghost. You can interact with people, and feel things, but…but people live in their own world, and they get older, and leave, and then fifty years go by and you're the same age and they're not at all. Minerva McGongall was Head Girl the year I died. And now she's…well, you've seen her." Luna nodded.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then, Luna picked up her bag from the floor and took out a book. Myrtle recognized it instantly.

"It's not the right time."

"No."

"You're going to do the second part."

"Yes."

"For who?"

"Ginny, I think. She's in more danger now, and even if I can't be with her, I want her to be safe."

"You're a better person than I am."

"No, I'm not. I'm doing this to feel better about myself, instead of being jealous." She stood up, holding the book, and looked at the door. "Does this lock?"

"No. Usually I just make a fuss when I don't want to be bothered. When there's water leaking out the door, no one comes in. And it_ is_ the middle of the night."

"Well, that works for you, I'm sure, but…I'd like a bit more guarantee if I'm going to do this. Colloportus!" The door sealed shut.

Myrtle stood – as much as a ghost can. "Do you have something to break it with?"

"Yes." Luna reached into her bag and took out a cup, much like the ones she used to collect her menstrual blood. But this one, instead of turning into a pad, turned into a rod, which looked like cloth-covered wood.

Myrtle peered at it. "Where'd you get that? I don't think Madam Pomfrey has _those_."

"She doesn't. Daddy let me wander around Diagon Alley on my own this summer while he met with one of his writers. I bought it."

"Oh."

"Yes." Luna went into the stall next to Myrtle's, took out her wand, and pulled up her nightgown. "Check the book, will you? I don't want to do this wrong."

As Myrtle looked at the book, open on one of the sinks, she marveled at Luna and her ability to put her feelings aside in order to protect a girl who, dating the Chosen One, needed every bit of protection that they could provide her with.

**oOo**

Myrtle felt oddly numb. The final battle was over, and all of the survivors – or those who had to survive, because they couldn't do anything else – were still in shock.

Harry Potter was alive. So was Ginny Weasley.

Luna Lovegood wasn't.

She'd stood tall and proud on the castle steps, as Voldemort and his followers approached Hogwarts, and told them they would not win.

He'd killed her, of course.

Her body had lain, crumpled, on the steps, but her sacrifice had given the others enough time to prepare. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger led Dumbledore's Army, reformed after Dumbledore's death, against the Death Eaters, as Harry Potter fought Voldemort, Ginny Weasley by his side.

Already weakened by the loss of his horcruxes, Voldemort decided to attack Ginny, rather than Harry, hoping that, with the death of his girlfriend, he'd be too distraught to successfully fight. Luna's spell, cast over a year before, shielded Ginny, leaving Harry enough time and energy to finally kill Voldemort, sixteen and a half years after his first defeat. But this time, Voldemort was gone for good.

In a daze, Myrtle floated from the top of the Great Hall, her watching spot, back to her toilet, seeking the comfort of the place where she'd died, the place where he'd killed her.

"It's over," she said to herself as she entered the room. "He isn't coming back this time." She pushed her hair behind her ears, pushed her glasses up her nose, and looked at herself in the mirror.

This time, the door didn't open.

Instead, Luna floated _through_ the door, shocking Myrtle into turning around so fast that she ended up half in the mirror.

"You came back!"

"Yes," Luna said, still as calm as she'd ever been in life. "I did."

"Why?" Myrtle asked quietly, pulling herself out of the mirror.

Luna shrugged. "Because I could. Because I've been prepared to die for a long time, and I've had time to think about what I wanted. Because I read the notes that Lily Potter wrote in the margins of that book, and her Arithmantical calculations, and realized that the spell was strengthened by death."

"Did you stay for Ginny, then?"

"No. I think, when I gave my virginity to protect her, I accepted that I'd never have her. No. I stayed for you."

"For me?"

"I'd miss you, if I went. And, perhaps, one day we'll go together." She floated closer to Myrtle and, for the first time, touched Myrtle's hair. Myrtle noticed that she was once more wearing her nightgown, though it had lost its whiteness when Luna died. She vaguely thought that, of course, the battle had happened in the middle of the night. "Will you tell me what happened? I couldn't watch – it took a bit of time to come back."

"He killed you, then Harry attacked. He tried to kill Ginny. Harry killed him."

"I'm glad the spell worked."

Myrtle nodded. "Me too."

"And after that?"

"The battle was…over. And the Death Eaters, they all fell when he died. So did Harry. His friend, with the brown curly hair, she was talking about connections and breaking the connection."

"Of course," Luna nodded, "his scar."

"I think so."

"Did anyone else die?"

"Actually, no one did. The battle was over surprisingly quickly. There were injuries, but no deaths – you were his last victim."

"And you were his first." Myrtle looked at her questioningly. "Ginny told me the whole story a few weeks ago, one night. It's oddly fitting, actually."

Myrtle didn't quite know what to say to that.

"May I share your toilet? While the front steps of the castle are a lovely place during the day, I don't really want to stay there and scare all the children."

"Of course," Myrtle hastily answered. "You're welcome here, for as long as…well, forever, really."

"Thank you," Luna smiled. "I'm glad."

**oOo**

**Author's Note: **Written in 2006 for HP Lovebirds, not compliant with DH.


End file.
